Smile AM: Smiling is one of the best and easiest ways to express joy. Children typically smile or laugh 400 times per day, which stimulates their brain's reward mechanism more effectively than chocolate can.
Studies have demonstrated that people who smile more often experience higher overall well-being and marital fulfillment in life. Smiling builds trust, improves health, and can even extend lifespan.
Smile AM: The Universal Language of Joy
Smiling is an expression of friendliness with an evolutionary history dating back millennia. Smiling promotes trust, reduces tension, and fosters social bonding; making it an invaluable nonverbal communication tool that can build strong relationships and cultivate an amicable workplace culture. Smiling can also serve as a universal sign that you're feeling joyful or content despite any circumstances you're going through; whether you're feeling happy, sad, angry or stressed smiling can bring many physical and mental health benefits for both individuals as well as for society at large.
Smiles may be genuine or artificial, but their physiological effect on the brain remains the same. We smile when engaging the muscles of our facial region, activating a biological mechanism that releases dopamine and serotonin; these hormones then have a positive feedback loop effect by increasing feelings of happiness while making us want to smile even more often.
Studies show that when we smile, our muscles are activated in our limbic system - which regulates our emotions and can greatly impact how we feel. Genuinely happy people often trigger stronger emotional responses with their smiles than fake ones; those less happy may only make a temporary impactful statement with fake smiles.
Smiling also stimulates the vagus nerve, helping to relax and ease our hearts, which also triggers when we hug someone. A genuine smile can make all the difference when creating meaningful connections and spreading joy in an increasingly virtual world.
There are various kinds of smiles, from polite social smiles involving few muscles to deceptive expressions which sneer at you or display deceitfulness. Different cultures interpret smiles differently; knowing these differences is essential when communicating with new people.
Guillaume Duchenne de Boulogne conducted the first scientific investigation into smiles during the early 19th century. Using electrodiagnostic devices, electrical stimulation, and even severed heads from executed criminals as research subjects to explore how facial muscles worked, he developed an initial model of a smile that is still used today.
Cracking the Code of Smiles
Smile AM: Smiling is a universal human expression that conveys various emotions. Although most often seen as an unconscious reaction to events that make us happy or make us laugh, a smile can also be chosen intentionally as an avenue of connecting more closely with people. Amy Morin, LCSW discusses why smiling can benefit our health in this episode of the Very Well Mind Podcast.
Psychologists once held that smiles were signs of happiness or contentment; this belief changed when Paul Ekman developed the Facial Action Coding System, or FACS, which captured precise muscle coordinates for over three thousand facial expressions. Ekman established a distinction between genuine enjoyment smiles and other types of smiles such as qualifying compliance coordination or listener smiles.
A qualifier smile is a small smile that signals that a message has been effectively delivered, understood, or agreed with by its recipient. The smile typically has an asymmetrical onset and may include nodding of the head or brow lifting; you might see this smile when someone makes unwelcome criticism but still manages to accept it gracefully.
A compliance smile is similar, yet more sudden in its arrival and is less prominent; its asymmetry is less noticeable; sometimes accompanying it may be shrugging shoulders, raising eyebrows, or tilting of the head downward. A compliance smile signals willingness or submission, agreement or promise; it conveys meaning.
The Listener Smile is another form of coordination smile that indicates understanding, agreement, or willingness to listen. It is a friendly and cooperative display. Similar to its qualifying counterpart, this smile also has an asymmetrical start point and does not display wrinkles around its crow's feet like other forms.
All these different forms of smiles serve a specific function; reliably advertising altruistic intentions is particularly crucial in our society of groups. A recent study conducted by researchers showed this to be true when they primed some test subjects for exclusion before issuing genuine Duchenne smiles to others and recovered their cardiovascular responses more quickly than those who did not smile at others.
Beyond Words: Smile AM Universal Language
A smile is one of the most universally understood human expressions, signaling friendliness, warmth, and trustworthiness across cultures, races, genders, and languages. A nonverbal form of communication for peacemaking could have played a pivotal role in early human survival by decreasing conflict and making more people likely to get along together.
Studies have also demonstrated how smiles can actually alter our emotional states. If we smile at someone, the brain releases endorphins which act like natural painkillers and reduce stress - this process is called facial feedback and has been demonstrated with MRI scans. Smiling can even change our perception of reality around us and affect others' attitudes toward us positively.
People smile to convey happiness or as an emotional response such as sadness, anger or fear - this "false positive" can greatly alter our perception of others and how they view us. But smiling may also serve as a form of social conformity so it's important to understand its various nuances to avoid miscommunication between cultures.
Researchers have noted that smiling is often used as an indicator of one's intentions toward others. For instance, in one experiment where participants were asked to share the money they received with a neighbor, those who issued genuine Duchenne smiles showed more altruistic tendencies than those without one. Furthermore, smiling can signal your approachability which helps build trust during business and legal negotiation situations.
Smiles can also help create a sense of belonging when it comes to minorities. People who identify as LGBT are more likely than non-LGBT individuals to receive greetings with smiles; this phenomenon seems particularly strong among male LGBT individuals compared to female ones, which suggests that smiling can break down barriers and promote inclusion - something we should all strive for!
The Magic of Smiles: Connecting & Spreading Joy
Smile AM: Smiles are a powerful tool used to connect with others and spread joy. Smiling can reduce our heart rate during stressful situations while making us appear more approachable and confident; they may even serve as an effective coping mechanism when unexpected events and situations arise; people who smile more often tend to live longer lives, develop deeper relationships and enjoy improved health outcomes.
Smiling is a form of body language and there are various kinds of smiles: the "mirthless" smile; social rictus; mouth shrug; uber-flirt smile and lower jaw jut. However, one of the most powerful types of smile is known as the Duchenne smile: this genuine expression involves both eyes to convey that we truly mean it and triggers neurotransmitters that promote an emotionally positive state when people smile back at us.
People who spread joy are comfortable being themselves and don't try to conform to social norms. They recognize and embrace each person's individual qualities and quirks; making an effort to get to know people on a personal level and create deep, meaningful connections.
They express their thanks by volunteering and making donations, showing appreciation through smiling at others and saying "thank you".
People who bring joy are constantly searching for ways to bring it into other people's lives, using creativity to find unique ways of creating memorable and exciting experiences for friends, family members, as well as strangers alike.
Magical Smiles is a non-profit organization committed to spreading joy and laughter to children who are suffering due to illness, natural disasters or war. We believe that just a smile and play can make all the difference in their lives.
Make sure that whenever you see someone - whether that be coworkers, or people at Starbucks, or strangers passing by - that you smile at them! A simple act like smiling can have a significant effect on both their and your mood - remember that smiles act like broadcast antennae reaching far and wide!
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